Written by Gavin Lenaghan and Benjamin Kerry
We learned a huge amount about the state of Apple’s world at the big launch of the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8 – and with the event proper continuing until the 12th, there will be doubtless plenty more news and reaction emerging from San Francisco over the coming days.
That’s as if we haven’t had enough to get our heads around already – the last day having seen us introduced to the latest version of the Mac operating software, OS X El Capitan, as well as the debut of iOS 9, giving us crucial insight into the future of the iPhone. New features in the contactless payments system, Apple Pay, were also given an airing, as was new multitasking support for the iPad.
Nor could we possibly forget about the unveiling of the latest software that will power the Apple Watch, watchOS 2, or what was surely the biggest news of the day – the wraps being thrown off Apple Music, the Cupertino giant’s challenge to the ubiquity of Spotify in the world of music streaming.
However, there were also plenty of more… ‘sideways’ developments to emerge in the latest big Apple keynote. Here are just a few of them.
Women boost Apple’s diversity credentials
The tech industry, it is fair to say, doesn’t exactly represent the last word in diversity, as has become well-known to anyone following the debates over the knock-on effects on the demographic makeup of San Francisco and wider Silicon Valley. Apple hasn’t been immune to such talk, even if its workforce is at least made up of 30% women. However, only 11% of Apple staff are Hispanic and 7% black.
Historically, however, very few women have appeared on stage at Apple’s keynote presentations, and even those who have done so have often been representatives of partner companies. As we reported yesterday, the lack of women at WWDC keynotes was pointed out by Mashable’s Christina Warren in her interview of Apple CEO Tim Cook the day before the event. His response? “I totally agree with you. You’ll see a change tomorrow.”
As it happened, he was as good as his word – to some extent – with two women, both Apple executives, on presenting duties. Updates to Apple Pay were introduced by Jennifer Bailey, while the company’s new news-reading app was announced by Susan Prescott – giving us only the seventh and eighth women to present at an Apple keynote.
Work remains to be done on the representation of other minorities at such events, although two black men, rapper Drake and R&B star The Weeknd, did at least star at the keynote this time around.
Funny moments and observations
There was plenty of light relief to be found between the big day’s product announcements – not least from former Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader, whose special effects-laden video of him seemingly preparing his own whimsical keynote presentation – filmed in a style akin to the hit film Birdman – drew chuckles from the audience and those back home.
But was even that video quite as funny as one particular keynote image? In introducing the keynote in typically upbeat and enthusiastic style, Cook retold how Cleveland Indians outfielder Brandon Moss sent his 100th homerun straight into the Indians bullpen. His teammates wouldn’t return the ball to him, however, unless he fulfilled certain demands.
The ransom note included mostly Apple-related things, ranging from iPhones and iPads to MacBook Airs and Apple Watches, but along with the Cupertino company’s new iconic timepiece came another request from relief pitcher Marc Rzepczynski, or “Zep”: a “50 gallon drum of lube”. This lewd part of the document was edited out by Apple for the big presentation.
So, while Apple did reportedly step in to gift the Indians players their various requests so that Moss could receive his 100th home run baseball, one suspects that Zep didn’t get the other thing that he had requested – or at least, not from Apple.
Scientific analysis of the Twitter reaction
Hammer ‘Apple’, ‘keynote’, ‘WWDC’ or any number of related hashtags into Twitter, and you’ll soon get a sense of what people are making of the major announcements on social media. Alternatively, you could be a bit more methodical about it, by looking to the sentiment analysis of Oxford academics.
More specifically, this analysis was the work of the start-up company TheySay, a spinoff from the university that was founded by its Professor of Computational Linguistics. His verdict was that the Twitter reaction was a resoundingly positive one, with researchers claiming that “no other company exists whose positive sentiment ratings are constantly so extremely high.”
The keynote got a 94% positive sentiment rating, with the wider conference scoring similarly impressively at 93%. Also “well received” were Apple’s efforts to boost diversity. The lowest positive sentiment score was for Apple Music at 85%, compared to the 98% rating that made Apple Pay the best-received announcement, as it was confirmed that the service would be making its way to the UK.
Even some of the less complimentary words directed towards Apple Music may be more accurately attributed to a backlash from Spotify fans than genuine disappointment from more neutral observers about Apple’s new streaming offering. iOS 9, meanwhile, was the subject of especially high levels of speculation.
Lots to get excited about
What is it about the keynote and the wider WWDC so far that has most excited you?
Is it OS X El Capitan, with its new gestures and ability to split the screen into multi-tasking windows? What about the upcoming enhancements to Siri as part of iOS 9, or watchOS 2’s new watch faces and “Time Travel” option for checking on future events, such as appointments or the latest weather? Or perhaps your excitement has been largely reserved for Apple Music?
Whatever – there’s no question that this has been a very exciting conference so far, with doubtless many more thrills and spills to come. Keep an eye right here on the AppleMagazine website for first word on the very latest developments.